Ladycat Softball ready for 2025 season with high expectations

The 2025 softball season at White Pine is underway as the Ladycats are already 10 games in.

With the experience this team has coming back the goal is to return to state playoffs and make another run at a state title.

“We have a lot of returners, and we are pumped for this year,” head coach Joe Sedlacek said. “I think we’ll be making a run for another state championship.”

Last year, White Pine lost in the 2A South Regional championship game to top-seeded Needles. The Ladycats also got the nod into the 2A State playoffs where they lost both of their games in the double-elimination tournament to Needles, in the winner’s bracket and in the championship game.

To begin the season, White Pine outscored its first three opponents 41-4 at the Pershing County Tournament. In the opener against Oasis Academy, senior Gianna Sedlacek went 2-for-2 with three runs scored and threw a five-inning complete game where she allowed one hit and two walks while striking out 10. Sophomore Camden Johnson went 3-for-3 with two doubles and four RBIs in the victory.

In the second game against Yerington, White Pine batted through the lineup for a nine-run third inning, leading to a 12-2 win. Eight of the White Pine’s nine hitters in the lineup recorded at least one hit as senior Kenna Brunson, juniors Cecilia Barbosa and Presley Skadburg and sophomore Paige Hayward each had two hits.

Hayward, who also had a game-high three RBIs, pitched for White Pine and threw five innings where she allowed two hits, two runs (one earned), four walks and struck out eight to earn the win.

In the third game, White Pine took advantage of an eight-run first and nine-run third for a 18-2 victory over Pershing County, a team that the Ladycats defeated last year twice in the state tournament. White Pine took advantage of 10 walks and sophomore Brenley Skadburg recorded three RBIs in the win.

“Some of our younger girls, a couple of our sophomores, are really standing out,” Joe Sedlacek said. “Brenley, our starting catcher, she has the highest on base percentage on our team and our number one batting average person is our first baseman, Camden Johnson. She’s got the highest batting average on the team. She already hit a home run last weekend. Offensively, those two are standing out right now.”

However, in the games that followed, the quality of opponents heightened. In the finale, White Pine lost 5-2 to Dayton, a 3A School.

Then the following week, the Ladycats lost 10-3 to 3A Virgin Valley. They also lost to Morgan, a 3A school from Utah and Northridge, a 5A School from Utah.

As a result, despite being on a seven-game losing streak, there was a lot to take away, playing against higher competition.

“We’re not outclassed by these teams,” Joe Sedlacek said. “These teams are 5A schools, and we’re a 2A Nevada school, and we’re competitive against all of them. We may have one slip up here and there, and that can dictate the game sometimes. But these teams aren’t better than us. We’re just as competitive with them as we are with anybody else.

“We see pitching that we don’t normally see. Faster pitching, better pitching, better pitches that we don’t normally see when we play in league. So, once we get to these tournaments, the faster pitching prepares us a little bit better for better competition.”

Now the Ladycats gear up for their first taste of 2A South League action on March 21 for a doubleheader at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. against Lincoln County, a team White Pine outlasted twice in the playoffs, including an extra-innings 9-8 victory in nine innings to advance to the regional championship game.

“I expect to win. Over the last two years, we’ve only lost once to Lincoln,” Joe Sedlacek said. “We have a competitive team, and I believe in the girls, and they believe in themselves, and we’ll be ready to play.”

That success thus far on top of being last year’s 2A State runners-up goes a long way into the culture that has been created in this program.

With the underclassmen and their success, it only heightens the potential for success for 2025.

“I think we have a pretty competitive team,” Joe Sedlacek said. “I think White Pine softball’s legacy kind of speaks for itself. We’re competitive year in and year out. A lot of these girls, especially the younger ones, freshmen and sophomores, played in that regional tournament for the Little League World Series. So, the White Pine Softball legacy is holding strong for sure.”

Joe Sedlacek, who also coached some of these players on the wrestling team during the winter, said, especially for his seniors, he wants them to finish the season strong and hopefully holding the 2A State trophy at the end.

“I hope to send them out with a state title,” he said. “That’s always our goal is to win and to win as much as we can. Hopefully these girls can go out on a good note. Just like my wrestling team, I want the seniors to have that legacy underneath their belt and have a state title to go out with.”